You want a real estate rarity? Try renting a single family house in central Pennsylvania.

Almost nothing’s available. But for whatever reason, some house hunters just don’t want to commit. Either they don’t have the finances, credit or the inclination to buy a home. They’d rather go month to month.

Problem is, there almost isn’t any product available, most especially single-family homes, for lease.

As a result, rents have been rising across the board – with rental rates going up on everything from homes to apartments throughout the area. And commercial developers are taking notice, with apartment projects in various stages of planning or construction in suburban areas of both East and West shores.

Then of course, Rothman proceeds to try to sell the caller on buying a house, instead.

“It's still cheaper to own a house than to rent a house,” Rothman says, reciting his well-worn sales pitch. “The decision is an easy one. It's really an affordable area.”

But some people either don’t want to buy, or they lack the credit, financing or faith in their long-term career prospects to make the home-owning leap.

As a result, rental occupancies have soared across the area. And so too have rents.

Occupancy rates routinely run around 98 percent these days. And rents are up a good 20 percent in the last couple years.

For example, two-bedroom, one-bath apartments start around $800 a month. For a three-bedroom condo, you’re looking at $1,200 to $1,500 a month.

“A lot of the time, we don't even have to put signs up,” says Garrett Rothman. “Again, there is lack of inventory.”

Still, the rental market remains a minority in central Pa., with residential housing split 60-40 in favor of owner-occupied dwellings. For rental-heavy markets like New York and D.C., the numbers are reversed.

Still, the increase in rental demand is getting noticed by commercial developers. Various multi-family residential projects are in the works across the area, reports Bill Gladstone of the Bill Gladstone Group of NAI CIR.

“It’s hot, sure,” the commercial realtor said of the recent move into multi-family residential construction.

“This has been going on for a couple of years now,” Gladstone explained of the current commercial real estate trends. “In 2010, it switched to apartments. The model is a good model. When people lose their homes, where do they go? They go to an apartment.”

And coming soon, there will be additional apartments, condos or townhouses in places like Hampden, Silver Spring and East and West Hanover townships, to name a few areas where projects are advancing, Gladstone said.

Indeed, the realtor told of a market study for one of the projects that showed that the developer could charge as much as $1,085 a month for a two-bedroom unit. The figure seemed eye-popping. So much so, the developer lowered the number to about $985 for his financing plan – just to be safe.